If, once again, the e-mail we
receive can be used as a yardstick, the F828 and its 8 megapixel
CCD has been much awaited.
The first thing one notices about images captured with the F828 is the
detail. Set to its default sharpening, the F828 captures distant details
quite clearly. For instance, the photo at right is of a bare tree and mountains
in the distance. The mountains in the green frame are more than 4 km (2.5
mi) distant, and yet the camera images the snow laden trees clearly.
The image above, represented by
the green rectangle in the top photo, is cropped from the full
size image measuring 3264 x 2448 pixels.
Aperture: f5, shutter speed: 1/250
sec., 64 ISO.
An 8 megapixel resolution is one of the benefits of the 8 megapixel
CCD, the other is the addition of sensors for a fourth colour, blue-green,
which is designed to improve colour reproduction, and bring it
closer to what the human eye perceives.
Indeed the Sony F828 captures colours quite faithfully, but — to
our eyes anyway — we did not observe a huge difference when compared
to 3-colour cameras.
Regardless, the DSC-F828 has an
excellent colour rendition, and offers 2 different colour modes:
Standard (the one used in the images shown here) and Real which
although poorly explained in the camera's manual, appears very
similar to the Vivid colour modes of some other cameras.
The Real colour mode tends to boost reds and greens, and make prints
from the photos a bit more vibrant.
Aperture: f4, shutter speed: 1/250
sec., 64 ISO.
In use the F828 is fast. The camera
is ready to shoot nearly instantly, and just like some other
recent Sony cameras, the F828 reacts instantly to the shutter
release. Storing an image is also fast. With JPEG, the camera
does not stop, but with a 22.9 MB TIFF file the camera takes
only 9 to 10 seconds to save the image to Microdrive, while RAW
files take some 5 seconds more.
Aperture: f4, shutter speed: 1/125
sec., 64 ISO.
While overall image quality of
the F828 has to be recognized as excellent, there are
two bumps in the road for the image quality of the F828.
The first bump is that images occasionally show a chromatic aberration — a
purple fringe — at the transition point in high contrast areas, or
along the edges of highly reflective objects. Although it is relatively
rare, when it occurs, the aberration is most pronounced when there are
highly reflective elements in the shot and the shot is captured at a wide
aperture.
It is worth noting that such
a chromatic aberration is not unusual, and is a phenomenon often
encountered with long zoom lenses that have a complex optical
construction.
The second bump is that the F828 appears to be more prone to noise than
the 5 megapixel F717. Noise tends to increase as the photosites on a sensor
get smaller, as is the case here, and one of the reasons cameras that use
larger sensors are less prone to noise.
Aperture: f4.5, shutter speed: 1/250
sec., 64 ISO
Used at 64 ISO, the images are effectively
noise-free with the exception of the deeper shadow areas that
can take on a slightly grainy appearance.
Aperture: f4, shutter speed: 1/160
sec., 64 ISO.
At 100 ISO, noise increases slightly,
but is not overt and does not affect image quality. At 200 ISO,
noise can be detected relatively easily when the photo is seen
at 100% on a monitor, but tends to disappear when the image is
printed. However, at 400 and 800 ISO the noise is impossible
to miss, and clearly affects the image quality.
Still the 800 ISO setting can be useful when used with the Night Shot mode,
as it extends the distance at which the infrared mode can be used, and
the green tint infrared image supports the increased grain quite well.
As with all cameras that have
a fixed lens, the focal range of the zoom is critical, and it
should cover the most common focal lengths without requiring
any add-on lenses. With a range that covers from 28 to 200mm,
the F828 is ideal.
At its widest end, 28mm, the zoom provides a wide and mostly distortion-free
image — ideal for building or scenery — and it is only when
the subject is nearby that barrel distortion becomes noticeable.
Aperture: f4, shutter speed: 1/400.
At the telephoto end, pincushion
distortion is minimal, and not readily detectable with standard
photography.
Although the F828 is not perfect — few things are — it is an
appealing camera that is capable of superb images, and a worthy successor
to the F717.
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